Australian and Canadian pension funds have been pioneers in infrastructure investing since the early 1990s. They also have the highest asset allocation to infrastructure around the globe today. This paper compares and contrasts the experience of institutional investors in the two countries...

This paper presents a proposal for a regulatory regime aimed at reducing systemic risk effectively and internationally. Systemic relevance should be internalized with a levy (or "tax"), the level of which (or "tax rate") rises with the systemic relevance of an institution (Pigouvian taxation)....

Using the 2008-09 global financial crisis, this paper examines the role of different forms of international financial integration for asset price contagion in crisis times. Defining contagion as the transmission of financial market movements beyond the co-movements that would occur in...

The economic downturn is likely to have a lasting impact on the fund management industry and on long term asset allocation strategies of institutional investors. On one hand, in promoting more cautious investment strategies and a greater focus on portfolio risk management in the coming years. On...

This report is structured in three chapters. The first chapter examines the channels through which institutional investors can access green infrastructure, assesses the extent to which this is currently happening, and identifies the barriers to scaling up these investment flows. The second...

The prospective normalisation of monetary policies in the main OECD areas will be challenging given that current policy rates are likely to be significantly below neutral levels and that central bank balance sheets will be above the pre-crisis levels by a wide margin. Monetary policy...

This report reviews recent as well as planned changes to accounting and solvency regulations affecting insurers and pension funds and how they may impact long-term investing by these institutions. The review of existing evidence focuses mainly on the impact of risk-based solvency requirements,...

Favourable conditions such as the growth of pension fund assets, privatisation trends and changing regulations have increased the interest of institutional investors in infrastructure investment. However, data on pension fund investment in infrastructure is limited. National statistical agencies...

This report reviews the existing evidence on pension fund investment in infrastructure in “new” markets, covering a number of non-OECD countries, such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa, as well as some OECD countries like Chile and Mexico. In the African, Asian, and Latin...

This definitional, stocktaking paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the concepts and definitions related to “green” investments that are currently used in the market place. The purpose of this research is not to take a position on a specific definition but rather to explore what...